Is This The Beginning of Cryptocurrency Mass Adoption?

As I was checking emails this morning, I came across two things that really caught my attention.

The first was an email from StockTwits.

StockTwits is a twitter like website where traders talk about different trading ideas as well as what is going on in the markets. In most cases it focuses on US and global stock markets.

However, today when I opened the email, look what was second on their most talked about list:

Ripple was one of the most talked about investments on the platform...

Then as I scrolled down a bit more, I came across this:

A blurb about cryptocurrencies in general.

A few months ago I never saw headlines like this. There was the occasional headline about Bitcoin but never about other coins or really even about the cryptocurrency space in general.

Is this the beginning of a changing of the guard?

Those two things were nice, but what really got me excited was what I stumbled upon a few minutes later.

It was an article about Mike Maloney, the founder of precious metals broker GoldSilver.com, talking up his usual doomsday scenario:

“Back in the year 2000, it was stocks. In the year 2008, it was stock and real estate. This time, it is stocks, real estates and bonds and they are all in some of the biggest bubbles of all time. When these burst, it’s going to be devastating for most people but it doesn’t have to be devastating for you.”

Only there was a little twist this time.

He said to buy physical gold and silver of course, but he also had this to say:

“You want to have an alternative monetary system that is already ready to go and those actually exist today. They are called cryptocurrencies. It started with Bitcoin. There have been several others that have been introduced. I own a few of them. I don’t own a lot of cryptocurrencies but I think it is something that is necessary to be prepared because if the monetary system fails, you’ll be able to do transactions right away with other people and you can do them over long distances. You can do them over the Internet just like you pay with your credit card today.”

Wow.

So, one of the most staunch gold and silver guys is now including Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into his basket of possible safe havens if the global economy collapses or if there is fiat monetary collapse.

Many investors in the gold and silver camp view bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as too risky of an investment for several reasons. A main one being that if the internet were to collapse, they would essentially be worthless.

However, Maloney notes that cryptocurrencies make a lot of sense from a person to person transactional perspective. They are fast and can be done over vast distances. He didn't advocate loading the boat up at these levels, but he did disclose that they make up a small part of his investing portfolio.

By the way, check out what Bitcoin has done versus gold (as well as many other assets) since 2010:

Talk about out-performance!

So, we got stock-trading news letters now talking about cryptocurrencies and we have gold and silver bugs mentioning them as possible hedges against the impending financial doom.

It seems we are on the right track. Hopefully this is just the beginning!

Mike is a level headed guy compared to a lot of Gold bugs. I have been following his work for quite some time and enjoy his educational Youtube channel.

He actually accepts bitcoin as payment on his precious metals exchange - with the right connections I'm sure we could influence them to add Steem now that we have passed bitcoin for the daily volume of transactions.

probably a mass adoption
funny the last time I checked about who the speaker is and what the guy is going to talk about
in my cashflow game group - it's crypto and the guy is said to be an expert am so damn curious
To the moon!

A change of guard... I love this choice of words. It seems rather appropriate for the matter at hand.

Thanks a bunch for another excellent article and all this precious information as well. Coupling this one with another that came over yesterday about the dumping of the American Dollar, I suspect we are in deed entering the era of cryptocurrencies!

There will no doubt be a wave off mass adoption at some stage in the next 2 - 5 years however it will come down to platforms/wallets that people find easy to use and have viable functionality. At the moment it is all too hard for most to understand let alone work their head around.

Yep I agree. It is far too complicated converting an altcoin to a local currency. Perhaps there will come a time when certain coins won't have to be converted at all... maybe that is when mass adoption truly begins. :)

I feel that is the future plan. Get everyone away from failing fiat and move towards a series of worldwide 'accepted' blockchain currencies (Asia, Europe and America). The elite will love that so they can maintain their stranglehold on Gold and Silver unless they are considering a gold backed crypto. Maybe they will just move the US and Euro to the Blockchain?

Sure sure Bitcoin has been very well preforming. These mainstream outlets are not understanding of the whole picture however.
The very fact they mention Ripple as a crypto shows the disconnect.
Time will teach people - nice post

Something that Mike Maloney also says is that he sees (and I also do) a big problem with crypto currencies which is that they have a single point of failure, Internet. Under certain critical events Internet could go down in which case all the cryptocoins will be unavailble. True, it is an extreme case and we will have many other issues like getting food and may be even weapons, but it could take even years to be back and have access again to our crypto currencies. If that happens we need to have other aways to purchase food, water, etc like gold, silver and FIAT currency if it still has any value.

Yep, great advice. Yes the internet thing is a big issue. Although if the internet goes out we probably won't be wanting gold or silver either. We will be wanting water, food, shelter, and guns. I don't want to be around if/when that happens...

Japan is said to be in the process of national cryptocurrency my dear friend @jrcornel so who knows? One thing going is so far unless I do not know yet, it is the lack of taxes. If taxes start, well who knows?

Yes Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies are becoming more acceptable as investments and as a hedge. I learned how to buy Bitcoin from The Bill Bonner Letter and I took the plunge. Very grateful I did. Thanks for posting this article.

I hope you are right because I want some more time to load up on these things first. ;) However, I thought it would take a lot longer than a couple months for most of these cryptos to go up 10X in value... It could happen pretty fast with the right circumstances.

There are too many people that are only vaguely aware of what bitcoin is or that haven't heard of it at all. That said, adoption could easily double or even quadruple. If you focus on long term trends, bitcoins are inherently deflationary (assuming that people don't lose confidence in them or someone figures out how to hack the system). This makes them great to hold if you expect hyperinflation of the dollar.

I think many people have been waiting for an ETF. So far the SEC has said it's a no-go. However, I think that it's only a matter of time until they find a way to get one out. As cryptocurrency ETFs eventually pop up, that would only create more demand for the coins...

I actually just posted about something similar to this today, as more attention is brought to cryptocurrencies, people will pay more for them. FOMO also grows as people hear more and more about crypto's success which then contributes to the overall growth.

When even Mike Maloney owns Crypto...then I consider that a big deal. In the beginning I was hesitant about the crypto movement...but since even Japan legalized bitcoin...I have finally realized that the blockchain is here to stay...so why not embrace this technology...so I did. No regrets so far!

People is starting to wake up to the reality of the biggest economic crisis in human history and thinking that cryptocurrencies are the answer not only to speculate with it but also to avoid loosing their live time savings.

But is that premise true or would cryptocurrencies be vulnerable also in a financial crisis?

Its going to take a while for everyone to adapt this. Its actually the currency of geeks as of now (in younger generation). Secondly the mid ages (the masses) are still busy with their boring jobs and weekend parties and trusting govt. central banks. old people anyways dont give a dam about currencies etc. and are enjoying retirement or are battling illness. I guess it all depends on either how fast the central banks collapse or the govt. accepts the cryptos and give the status of alternate currency. However i feel there is a small possiblity that they way they are blocking torrent sites in india and many other parts of the world, they might block crypto sites too. but im sure there are way more alternatives to it.

Masses with surely adopt cryptos but its gona take a while. i guess the missed out rally of the cryptos will make masses adopt it, just like stock markets...lol

Comparing one bitcoin to one ounce of gold is pretty arbitrary. It's not like bitcoins are measured in ounces. That said, I can't claim that I understand the table that you included. Where it says current value, what does that mean?

Thanks for providing your perspective and its good to see cryptocurrencies getting legit and getting adoption. What's heartening is also the doomsday scenario you are talking about and equating it with gold.

I love to read headlines about cryptocurrencies ( in places where you would not expect to see it) it makes me excited that the world is starting to wake up...
BMW is going to start accecpting Bitcoin as payment for buying a car( not sure exactly when, but just one more co going in the right direction to steer the herd:)

I think that attraction of crypto currencies it's worldwide spreading and predictable inflation. As concerns usual currencies it mostly concentrated geographically and that's make it vulnerable to geopolitical risks and also such currencies are vulnerable due to non predictable central banks policies...